EXECUTION OF JAPANESE WAR CRIMINALS AT CHANGI JAIL SINGAPORE

Synopsis

At Changi Jail, Singapore, three convicted Japanese war criminals are hanged.

Shot from beneath the gallows in the courtyard of Changi jail looking at the underside of the trapdoor. The trap opens and Sergeant-Major Nobuo Iijima (Eishima on the dopesheet) drops into view. Wide shot shows Captain Mitsuo Komai being led up a gangway to the gallows. Wide shot from ground level showing Komai being hanged. Lieutenant Kaniyuki Nakamura is led out from the cells and…

At Changi Jail, Singapore, three convicted Japanese war criminals are hanged.

Shot from beneath the gallows in the courtyard of Changi jail looking at the underside of the trapdoor. The trap opens and Sergeant-Major Nobuo Iijima (Eishima on the dopesheet) drops into view. Wide shot shows Captain Mitsuo Komai being led up a gangway to the gallows. Wide shot from ground level showing Komai being hanged. Lieutenant Kaniyuki Nakamura is led out from the cells and led up a gangway. Adjustments are made to his feet straps. Nakamura is hanged; camera tilts down to see the body swinging on the rope through a doorway beneath the gallows. In the pit beneath the gallows a medic with a stethoscope checks the body.

Nakamura was executed for having beheaded an Indian soldier, Sepoy Mohammed Shafi. Some of his trial can be seen in the films referenced below. Iijima and Komai were executed for the beating to death of two British prisoners of war at Kanburi, Thailand, in 1943. See Lomax reference below.

The Imperial War Museum's Sound Archive holds an interview with cameramen who filmed these executions. See reference below.

Countries

Production Organisations

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